starting out (again)
by Little Blue Owl
Summary: Ven spends a day with the other Guardians of Light before the final battle. It isn't exactly what he was expecting, but that's not a bad thing - Cross-posted on AO3


AN: I love love love the idea of the Guardians of Light getting a couple more days together before everything goes down, so I'm writing more about it. This is mostly an experiment in writing my best boy Ventus, but also an excuse for friendship and sorikai fluff. I hope you like it, and comments are always appreciated!

When Ven first wakes up, he isn't sure where he is. Waking up alone is an unfamiliar sensation, after twelve years of sleep. He rubs his eyes wearily and sits up, pushing back a blanket on him. Didn't he fall asleep on the couch...?

No, he remembered now. When they were are telling stories in the lounge last night, he remembered slowly leaning back onto Aqua's shoulder, her hands ruffling his hair. Sometime in the middle of the night, he'd half-woken as she carried him upstairs.

Aqua was always looking after him like that.

Ven looked up, sunbeams filtering through a star-shaped window. He closed his eyes and grinned. Being back felt good.

It probably took him longer than it should have to dressed (were motor skills always this hard to work?) but eventually he was in training clothes ready to work. They would get stronger and save Terra. They had to.

...Or that was the plan.

As soon as he opened the thick wooden door of the tower bedroom, he heard a loud thud, followed by a few muffled noises. What was going on?

Ven crossed over to the door the sounds came from, knocking twice before cracking open the door. "Is everything okay in there?"

"Eek!" someone squeaked, and he caught a flash of red hair as a face appeared at the slight opening. "Oh, Ven! It's just you." Kairi sighed in relief.

"What-?"

"Don't open the door too far if you don't wanna get soaked," said a deeper voice from within the room.

"I-? Huh?" What was going on?

Suddenly Sora's head popped up above Kairi's, giving Ven a little grin. "Here, you can come in. Just don't open it too far, like Riku said."

Ven obliged, more out of sheer curiosity than anything. He slid through the crack in the door and looked to see what was happening.

He didn't know what he expected, really, but it wasn't Riku standing next to a ladder fixing a bucket to a string as Sora held a large bottle of water. Kairi was sat on the bed, a can of-something?- in her hands.

"What are you guys doing?"

Kairi giggled, bouncing up to stand next to Riku. "Sora and I were going to get Axel's hair wet and replace the gel with whipped cream when he tried to fix it, but we were both too short to reach the top of the door. Luckily, we have a very tall boyfriend who agreed to help!" She stands on her tiptoes to kiss Riku's cheek as Sora emphatically nods, and Riku just rolls his eyes.

"Not that I'm judging you or anything, because I'm not," Ven says, "but why?"

"He spends too much time on his hair," Riku says, and Sora nods.

"We wanna see if he really looks like a wet cat when it isn't gelled up." Ven snorts.

"You should've seen it when he was a teenager," he starts, and Kairi's eyes go wide with mischief.

"How bad was it?" she asks, grabbing his hand. Sora pours water into the bucket behind her. "Did he look like he was on fire?"

"Honestly, a little bit," Ven answers, and she and Sora break into fits of giggles. Riku shakes his head, stepping up onto the ladder and tying the bucket to the string.

"There," he says. "Now we have to get out of here."

"Come on!" Sora says, grabbing Ven by the arm and veritably shoving him out the door. He follows behind, Kairi on his tail and Riku squeezes through last, taking the ladder and hiding it behind the door to another room.

"What now?" Ven asks, and Sora grins widely.

"We wait," he says.

They don't have to wait for long. Less than a minute later, Lea comes down the hallway, murmuring something to himself. He turns the doorknob to his room, and Riku has to clamp his hand over Kairi's mouth to stop her from giggling.

It's an unfortunate moment to hear the click of boots coming down the stairs from the opposite direction.

"Oh, no," Ven says under his breath, and there's a clearing of a throat behind them.

"What are you four doing?" Aqua asks, and Ven does have to turn around to see the stern frown on her face. He can hear it.

"Um," Sora starts. Eloquent.

"Augh!" There's a groan from around the corner, and the other three break out into laughter, Kairi clutching Sora's arm for support. Aqua gives them a look.

"Ven," she says, turning to him with a vague look of disappointment, "go downstairs and eat breakfast."

He doesn't have to be told twice, he thinks, hustling down the wooden steps two at a time.

"Now, as for you three..."

It isn't until almost an hour later that he gets to see the fruit of the other three's labor.

But oh, was it worth it.

Lea did indeed look like a wet cat, fiery hair pulled into a soggy ponytail, emerging from the tower onto the field outside, giving the islanders a look of sheer hatred. They all just laughed. Aqua came out behind him, and the laughing stopped.

"Whipped cream?" Lea asked, and Kairi held back a snicker. This wasn't going to go well.

"Kairi, you're sparring with me. Sora and Riku," Aqua says, turning to the two boys, who instantly go white. "Master Yen Sid says you're on cleaning duty."

There's a twin pair of groans. "Why not Kairi?" Sora asks, and Kairi skips over to Aqua, smirking at them.

Aqua doesn't seem to notice, putting a hand on her hip. "I have almost no doubt you two dragged her into this."

"But it was her idea!" they both say at once. Kairi winks at them, sticking out her tongue playfully. Ven's the one who has to hold back a laugh this time.

"Plus, I expect more from the two who are supposed to be masters."

Sora looks down at his feet guiltily, and Ven wonders why. His boyfriend puts a comforting hand on Sora's shoulder, and Sora leans into it dramatically.

"Fine," he sighs, and he and Riku make their way inside.

"You're with me," Lea says, and Ven turns to see the (god he's so tall now) older man stride over to him. "Even though you're an accomplice."

Ven chuckles, smiling up at him. "I mean, I didn't actually do anything."

Lea narrows his eyes for a second, then smirks. "You're lucky I'm too happy to see an old friend to be mad at you," he says, putting a hand on Ven's shoulder. "Now come on, we could both use some work."

By noon, Ven sees that Lea was right. His legs feel like they're in a perpetual state of sleep, always a bit fuzzy and slow to do what he wants them to. He wonders if that's just what losing your heart for so long does to your body.

All six of them are crashed on the steps of the Mysteries Tower, soaking in the sunlight. Aqua stretches her legs out next to him, downing some water.

"Who wants lunch?" she asks, least bothered by the long training session. It seems like this morning was weeks ago, Ven thinks as they all shuffle inside, dripping with sweat.

In half an hour, they're all sitting around the oddly-shaped table in the tower's kitchen, munching on sandwiches. Aqua's next to him, laughing at something Lea said, and Kairi's sitting on Sora's lap, feet resting on Riku in the chair opposite them.

"You got it easy," she groans, nuzzling into Sora's shoulder. "One-on-one with Aqua is hard."

"Cleaning with Riku isn't fun, either," Sora says, and Riku kicks him under the table.

"Ven, how was your morning?" Aqua asks.

He turns around, seeing her bright smile, and it feels like he never left the Land of Departure at all.

"Not bad! Twelve years of sleep kinda did a number on me, though," he admits, scratching his cheek in embarrassment. He didn't think it would be this hard to get back on his feet.

"Ah, don't worry about it," Lea says, rubbing the back of his head. "It's still hard for me to even summon the Keyblade, sometimes."

"We've just had a lot of practice," Riku says from down the table, and gives Ven an encouraging smile. Riku isn't nearly as stiff as he seems, he thinks.

"I know we'd all rather take a break," Aqua says, "but we still have a full afternoon ahead of us. Everyone ready to get back to it?"

There's nodding and plates behind put in the sink and then it's back to work.

By the time Ven gets done with his drills, the sun is starting to descend through the sky. He walks slowly back to the portal to the tower through the woods, letting the breeze cool his skin. He could just take this in forever, the sun and the wind. He didn't even realize how much he'd missed them.

There was a flash of light from his left, and a crack of thunder startled Ven out of his reverie. What-?

He followed the dirt path to a little clearing in the forest, little patches of charred grass everywhere. Riku and Kairi are crashed in the grass, sweating and panting.

"Uhhhhh," she groans, and he laughs a little, standing up halfway.

"Hop on," he says, and Kairi gratefully puts her arms around Riku's next as he stands up, carrying her over to Ven.

"Hi," he says as they approach. "What was that noise?"

Riku starts walking towards the portal, Kairi piggybacking on him, and Ven falls in step next to them. "We were doing a drill Yen Sid came up with," Riku says, sounding absolutely exhausted.

Kairi turns to Ven, head still resting in the crook of Riku's neck. He adjusts his girlfriend's legs under his arms. "Riku was using thunder magic and I was dodging. We do it because we're really bad at it," she laughs. "Riku struggles with light magic and I'm a terrible runner."

"You're not that bad," Riku tries to say, but Kairi shushes him.

"Please. If I had been racing with you and Sora on the islands the whole time this wouldn't be a problem," she whines, and Riku turns to give her a sympathetic look. "What about you?" she asks Ven.

"After years of experience," he answers, "I can confidently say that I will never beat Aqua in a fight." That makes them both laugh.

"Even I can't beat Aqua," Master Riku says, and Kairi nods.

"Sora can," she says, and they both look at the sky dreamily for a moment. Ven tries not to laugh.

By the time they get back to the front door of the tower, Ven doesn't think his legs will work for another step. He groans and immediately turns to the lounge, falling over the side of an armchair gracelessly. He hears a giggle from the other side of the room, and sees Aqua laughing, Sora half-asleep on the couch next to her.

"You made your way back alright," she says, and he grunts in response, causing another chuckle out of her. "Sorry about the long day."

Lea, Riku, and Kairi (now on her own two feet) file into the room behind him, all taking a seat around the room, plates of food in their hands. Sora sits up as Riku offers him a plate, blinking one eye at a time before smiling at his boyfriend gratefully. Lea offers Ven a plate of his own.

"Here, kid. It's been a long day."

Ven accepts gratefully; food has never sounded so good in his life. He moves to right himself in the chair, sinking into the plush comfortably.

"I wanna be back at the beach," Sora says suddenly, his boyfriend and girlfriend settling down on the couch next to him.

"I'd love to go to the beach," Aqua says, sighing into her food. "It's been so long since I've gotten to swim."

"I promised to go to the beach once, back in the Organization. I never got to," Lea says. "It'd be nice to go somewhere quiet after this is all over."

"I don't want to do anything but sleep," Ven says, and Sora throws a pillow at him across the room.

"You were asleep for twelve years, gimme a break," he whines.

"You were asleep for a year, yourself," Riku reminds him, and Sora gives him a dirty look. They all laugh.

Ven looks around at the group. Aqua being there helps, obviously, but he doesn't feel like it'd be awkward even if she wasn't. He feels like he's known Sora his whole life, Kairi and Riku, too, and Lea's a welcome familiar face. He figured waking up after sleeping for over a decade would wreck all this, but honestly? It still kinda feels like being surrounded by family.

There's the last rays of sunlight filtering in through the windows on them, lighting up the laughing group, and the old plush chair sinks under him as he eats. He doesn't even realize he's dozed off until there's a light shake on his arm.

"Night, Ven," Sora's saying, giving him a warm smile. He's hanging onto both Riku and Kairi lovingly, and they both give him a little wave as they go upstairs. Lea gives him a two-finger salute as he follows, and Ven can hear him nagging the three teens again about their prank that morning.

"Hey," Aqua says, sitting in the chair next to his.

"Hi," Ven says quietly.

"You okay?" she asks, and he nods.

"Thanks for coming to get me," he says, and she ruffles his hair.

"You already said that, silly." She smiles fondly at him, and he sighs, closing his eyes.

"We're gonna save Terra, right? I- I promised him..." He trails off.

There's silence for a minute, then he feels Aqua's hand in his, squeezing lightly.

"Just a few more days," she says. Her smile is soft, warm. Ven's never had a mother, but he guesses this is what he feels like to have one.

"Yeah," he says quietly, and Aqua offers a hand to pull him up. They made their way for the stairs, going up silently and watching the stars come up outside the windows, shining gently down on the tower below.

When they reach his room, she ruffles his hair again, and he leans into the familiar touch.

"Goodnight, Ven," she says. "I promise we'll get him back soon."

He nods, and he knows she's right. "Yeah. Goodnight, Aqua."

And he prepares himself for another long day of training. One day down. One day closer.

They'd all be back together soon.


End file.
